Fernandes Tomás M, Morgado Leonor, Turner David L, Salgueiro Carlos A
UCIBIO, Chemistry Department, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Avenida da República (EAN), 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 May 25;10(6):844. doi: 10.3390/antiox10060844.
Electrogenic microorganisms possess unique redox biological features, being capable of transferring electrons to the cell exterior and converting highly toxic compounds into nonhazardous forms. These microorganisms have led to the development of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs), which include applications in the fields of bioremediation and bioenergy production. The optimization of these technologies involves efforts from several different disciplines, ranging from microbiology to materials science. bacteria have served as a model for understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of extracellular electron transfer, which is highly dependent on a multitude of multiheme cytochromes (MCs). MCs are, therefore, logical targets for rational protein engineering to improve the extracellular electron transfer rates of these bacteria. However, the presence of several heme groups complicates the detailed redox characterization of MCs. In this Review, the main characteristics of electroactive bacteria, their potential to develop microbial electrochemical technologies and the main features of MCs are initially highlighted. This is followed by a detailed description of the current methodologies that assist the characterization of the functional redox networks in MCs. Finally, it is discussed how this information can be explored to design optimal -mutated strains with improved capabilities in METs.
产电微生物具有独特的氧化还原生物学特性，能够将电子传递到细胞外，并将剧毒化合物转化为无害形式。这些微生物推动了微生物电化学技术（METs）的发展，该技术包括生物修复和生物能源生产等领域的应用。这些技术的优化涉及从微生物学到材料科学等几个不同学科的努力。细菌已成为理解细胞外电子转移现象背后机制的模型，这一现象高度依赖于多种多血红素细胞色素（MCs）。因此，MCs是合理蛋白质工程的合理目标，以提高这些细菌的细胞外电子转移速率。然而，多个血红素基团的存在使MCs的详细氧化还原表征变得复杂。在本综述中，首先强调了电活性细菌的主要特征、它们发展微生物电化学技术的潜力以及MCs的主要特征。接下来详细描述了有助于表征MCs中功能性氧化还原网络的当前方法。最后，讨论了如何利用这些信息来设计在METs中具有改进能力的最佳突变菌株。
